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Bearing Tales to Others

I.Some sins are overt. They are clearly and obviously wrong. But other sins are subtle.
We don’t realize that what we are doing is wrong.

A.Gossiping can be that way.

1.Oh, I’m sure we see that the loud-mouth neighbor on a TV sitcom is
wrong. After all, the person is all but wearing a sign that says “gossiper.”

2.However, at times we get caught up in gossip without realizing what we
are doing.

B.What is wrong with gossiping? It can’t be undone!

1.“The story is told of a small village in Eastern Europe. One of the men in
the community had a dislike for leading man. He made it a practice to
slander the wise man at every opportunity. Eventually, he had a change in
heart. Feeling guilty at his lies and misrepresentations, the man presented
himself to the wise man, admitted his error, and asked for forgiveness. The
wise man considered the request for a moment and told the man to first go
to the top of the highest hill and while there cut open a feather pillow and
scatter its contents. “When you have done that,” he said, “return to me.”
The penitent man did as he was told and returned to the wise man. “I’ve
done as you asked,” said the former slanderer, “Am I now forgiven?”
“Almost,” replied the wise man. “I only ask one more thing of you. Go
and gather all the feathers up again.” “But that’s impossible,” cried the
man. “They’ve been blown to the four corners of the earth!” “Yes,” said
the wise man, “and so it is impossible to undo the damage you have done
with your words, which never can be retrieved.”

C.One writer said, “Digging for the facts is better than jumping to conclusions.”
However, people prefer to jump because it involves less effort.

IV.Gossip is unkind

A.Pr 25:23 - This is the secret gossiper and the result is always anger

B.II Cor 12:20 - It is associated with all sorts of discord

1.It is to be put away and replaced with kindness - Eph 4:31-32

C.Talking about things that are not proper to mention - I Tim 5:13

D.We are not to speak evil of no one - Tit 3:2

1.This is not to say that we cannot approach someone about their sin

2.Notice that then the objective is to improve, not to destroy.

3.Notice that no one else was brought in to the matter.

E.Speaking truth in love - Eph 4:15

F.The golden rule - Matthew 7:12

V.Ways gossiping is perpetuated

A.Most of us have mental images of the gossiper leaning over the back fence loudly
whispering shameful things about other people

B.But it can be found in other forms. Some people tend to think that thinks written
are true. While the written word was once more carefully considered than the
spoken word because it took longer to produce, it did not always mean it was true.

C.Today, with the Internet and e-mail, people can spread the written word faster than
it can be spoken. Too often, people resend what they receive without ever
checking to see if it was true. Well, it came from brother So-and-So and I’m sure
he must have checked. The problem is brother So-and-So didn’t check because he
got it from a brother he trusted, and so on.

D.Here is an example:

1.In 1996, Procter & Gamble filed a lawsuit against Amway Corporation and
some of its distributors for spreading rumors to the effect that P&G is
affiliated with the Church of Satan.

2.It seems people in Amway were repeating statements from a flyer that has
been circling the globe for years via fax, mail, and now e-mail. The rumors
it contains have existed for the better part of twenty years and continue to
run rampant despite P&G’s best efforts to combat them.

3.Here is one e-mail that has been circulating:

PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The president of Proctor & Gamble appeared on Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He
announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his
association with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter &
Gamble products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on
TV would hurt his business, he replied, “There are not enough Christians in the United States to
make a difference.

[The e-mail goes on to list P&G products, alleges that an P&G emblem of a ram’s horn forming
the number 666 will soon appear on its products, and calls for support from Christians in
boycotting P&G. To further bolster its appearance of truth, it suggests sending $3.00 to the Phil
Donahue show, giving its address, for a transcript of the show.]

4.How many people do you think bother to check? You see the president of
P&G never appeared on the Donahue show.

April 5, 1995

To Whom It May Concern

It seems impossible that the rumor of an appearance by the president of Proctor & Gamble on
Donahue is still circulating after more than a decade. There is absolutely nothing to this rumor.

The president of P&G has never appeared on Donahue, nor has any other P&G executive.

Anyone who claims to have seen such a broadcast is either mistaken or lying. It never happened!

Sincerely,

Phil Donahue

5.There are plenty of hints in the letter that the contents must be false.

a.There
is no single owner of Procter & Gamble who can decide what to do with
the company’s profits – let alone tithe it to a satanic organization.
P&G is publically owned and the profits go to shareholders.

b.The figureheads of a large, successful company would never
publicly claim to follow Satan, even if it were true. It is called bad
public relations. People don’t become presidents of major
corporations by being morons.

c.There are no symbols of a ram’s horn on P&G products.

6.Why does it continue to circulate?

a.It was designed to stimulate the fears of a particular group of
people, in this case devout Christians.

b.People who believe in the existence of Satan and understand the
battle between the forces of good and evil are predisposed to think
it is plausible that the president of a powerful, respected
corporation would proudly announce on TV that he’s the minion of
Satan.

c.People don’t check!!!

7.It is not the cost of the mail or e-mail or our time that we are wasting. We
are wasting our credibility. If people think Christians are stupid enough to
fall for this falsehood, perhaps they are gullible enough to fall for that
resurrection story.

E.Brethren, your reputation is on the line every time you tell someone something you
know or when you copy an interesting story to your friends.

F.Always, always, always make sure you are speaking the truth in love – Is it true, is
it for the benefit of everyone involved, and does that person need to know.

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